GUELPH POLITICAST #16 – Joseph St. Denis, Mayoral Candidate

Can a shoeless man become Mayor of Guelph? Joseph St. Denis is betting he can. St. Denis entered the race this past spring with a goal of shaking up the status quo. Regular politicians aren’t good enough to represent us, he argues, and the poor voter turnout in the 2010 election reflects that. Maybe its not the quality of politics, he proposes, but the content of our politicians. He may not be as polished, he may not have a platform, and he may not have a pair of shoes, but that doesn’t mean that St. Denis isn’t in it to win it.

“Shoeless” Joseph (he is not, as he says in the podcast “Shoeless Joe”) is running for mayor not as a politician, but as a philosopher. Believing that people are sick of politicians, he thinks a philosopher is more welcome in the race. His platform? Forget about it! “I don’t really have one,” he says in his campaign literature. “I hate platforms. Platforms are, by definition, just things used to raise stuff above other stuff. Platforms are for oil rigs and politicians. I am a simple computer technician and workingclass philosopher. Politicians need platforms to raise themselves above the people; philosophers understand that they are never above the people. Well, except for maybe Frederich Nietzsche.”

St. Denis’ campaign includes the handing out of campaign literature in both hard copy and DVD. He’s not going to talk at you about taxes and Urbacon, but rather he wants to suggest that the change we seek begins with the system. Our democracy is sick, he thinks, we need new blood and new ideas to get into the system and shake things up, take power out of the hands of career politicians and give it to people that want to address real concerns. It’s either optimistic or naive, but darned if St. Denis isn’t able to sell it.

You can learn more about Joseph St. Denis’ campaign e-mailing him at joe@datamatrixpc.com, or by calling him at 519-824-5660. You can also keep your eye open for him while you’re out and about downtown, where he’ll be handing out campaign literature.

The theme music for Guelph Politicast is now provided by Crazy Pills and their song “Break It Down” courtesy of Free Music Archive.

The host for the Guelph Politicast is Podbean. Find more episodes here.

Stay tuned for from episodes of the Guelph Politicast as we count down to the 2014 Municipal Election on October 27.

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